Touchscreens and other forms of touch panel components have become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly in the context of mobile devices, such as mobile phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), and the like.
It is often desirable to integrate standard, mechanical keys or buttons alongside “virtual” buttons displayed on the touchscreen display because, among other things, the tactile feedback provided by such buttons is often preferred for certain user interface functions. For example, a device may include a row of unmarked physical buttons adjacent to the touchscreen display, where, depending upon the context, certain indicia regarding the nature of each button is displayed next to the corresponding button. In this way, one physical button or key can be used for multiple purposes.
In such cases, it is desirable that the physical buttons be placed as close as possible to the touchscreen display, as this helps the user associate a particular button with its intended purpose, and also helps to decrease the footprint used by the physical buttons.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved methods of integrating physical buttons with touchscreen panels. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.